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Monday, 7 March 2016

7 Tips for better haggling

Death of the wheeler dealer?

Is haggling a dying art in our internet age ?

Fans of TV shows like Flog it and Bargain Hunt see examples
of contestants or the ‘experts’ asking for thebric-a-brac and antique dealers
for the best deal. It is a genteel form of haggling. American Pickers shows more of the skills of haggling and the two and fro of sealing the deal. Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz travel
around the United States to buy or "pick" various items for resale,
for clients, or for their own personal collections. *

In our Internet age of comparison sites, some are arguing
that haggling has been made a thing of the past.

Auto trader magazine
for example, in recent research discovered that 56% of used car buyers paid the asking price in the last 6
months – an increase of 12% from last year.

Yet sites like Topcashback.co.uk say you can save hundreds
of pounds a year.

The London Times in their Money column of their Saturday edition
had an article by Iona Bain offering 7 tips for better haggling. Even though
these were written for consumers in a retail environment the principles are useful for any negotiator (
haggler).

Saturday's money section
in the London Times

Be Polite: You need to get a conversation going so try a
question in such a way as “ How can we get a better deal on this? “ . Keep
flexible and consider proposing to pay cash or to bulk buy.

Don’t be shy of haggling: Autotrader’s survey of 5000 drivers showed
that only 32% of Millennials were happy to haggle compared with 58% of 45-65
year olds. Interestingly 34% of the survey said they would prefer to negotiate
a pay rise than haggle for a discount.

Get that Freebie: Salespeople are usually given discretion to
give something away. However don’t accept something you don’t want. The example
Iona suggest that storage on the cloud is something you will have to pay later
in time and may not be as such value for you.

Take your time : Listen
first and don’t haggle too soon. Stall with ‘ too busy at the moment’, or ‘need
time to think. Shop at a quieter and less busy time. Ben Yearsley of Wealth Club suggests when buying a car go to the dealerships
at month / quarter end as salespeople target periods are usually set for such
time windows.

Be Firm: Try to haggle with existing suppliers but
also take a look at the competition. Quite often the existing supplier will
come back with a better offer. Face to
face haggling also allows you to communicate through body language and leaves
an impression.

Choose the right time and place to
haggle:Challenge any
surprise hikes in prices. Which magazine in one of their surveys showed of
members who challenged and got a discount were as follows:-

70% who haggled were successful with LV

Over 2/3rds with Saga, Direct Line, and
Arriva

Fewer than half were successful with John
Lewis, L and G, Churchill and More than.Go onlinesites like:-

Ratedpoeple.com for Trades people

Carwow.co.uk for Cars

Bigdeal.com for energy bills.

By encouraging customers to register en
masse, it can use the collective buying power to save consumer hundreds of
pounds on utilities.

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About Me

I have been a training consultant for 30 years.
I also research Buyers Views of Sales people for an ongoing research study I have done for the last twelve years
The majority of photographs, videos and audios in this blog are taken on my new Fujifilm Fine pix T from May 2012 The Pencil Sketches are mine also